When my wife and I first decided to move to Europe, we thought, as most couples no doubt come to the conclusion, that we were not capable of just picking up and moving. We needed a plan. We needed an income once there--we needed jobs. The following months brought various wild ideas, and some not so crazy, like teaching English. My wife scouted the internet and we both felt comfortable with a company called ITTT. How hard was it to teach something we have been utilizing all our lives, and so thinking ourselves well rounded in our native tongue, we enrolled.

As we delved into the course we began to get the realization the TESOL course was something akin to the new math we encountered as young students in school. What in the world was a ‘modal’? This had to be something new, as neither of us had ever heard the term before. My wife has a Masters Degree and is employed in the legal profession and I have just finished writing a full--length fiction novel. Ask us about passive sentences, no problem. Ask us what the difference is between a debit and a credit when crunching numbers for some big dollar budget, still no problem. But a modal?

What we discovered, much to our surprise; is that while we were quite aware of how proper English sounded and how its various functions were utilized, we were not at all ready to grasp the stinging idea that we really did not have a clue as to why English words and phrases work the way they do. Needless to say this course of study was a definite learning experience for the two of us.

As an aspiring writer, I have always heard that English was one of the most difficult languages to learn and I often wondered why. I mean, it’s easy, we use it every day. Why does the rest of the world find it intimidating? What the course taught us is that we had failed to take into consideration all the rules associated with speaking and writing proper English that were ingrained in us as children, invisible laws of correct usage we absorbed through listening to our parents, television and friends, something I have come to realize, I’m not able to explain. Until now.

Although we realize to have a complete understanding of the English language, a person needs to dedicate the better part of four years to intensive higher learning in one’s choice of school; we do now feel confident enough to blaze a trail to Europe, complete with ITTT manual under arm, to teach those brave students willing (even those not willing) the difficult language of English.

The guide’s various approaches to reaching students were wide enough in scope to embrace any situation a teacher may find themselves. Study ideas, suggestions on how to utilize games and other methods abound and both my wife and myself have found the guide to be yet another useful tool in our overall education. The detailed explanations and the encouragement we received from our instructor we found enlightening and timely. After a lesson was submitted, and if we passed, we knew it was because of the hard work we had turned in to our teacher and that it was not just a passing grade to move us up and out of the classroom. We never felt at any time the teacher was shoving us out the door, yelling, ‘Next’!

We both enjoyed the course and is our recommendation that everyone, not just those individuals who say they understand their English mother tongue, take this course and review from time to time the materials and reasons why the language works the way it does. We have to go pack now.

Thank you, again.

Randy and Juliette Moody